Current gen Caparison guitars

[Fred the Shred]

They're specced by Caparison and I believe assembled by Gotoh if memory isn't playing tricks on me. I don't really like all the range equally, so I did have some changes to pickups in their current line-up, most notably in the Horus line - I really find that they work wonderfully, so I updated the ones in a couple older guitars to this revision. The original set in the TAT-7, for example, was pretty solid, but I wasn't 100% sold on that for my personal preference, so it ended up with the same set as the Angelus 7, which was more what I was after there - taste will dictate all that, really.

 

[nightsprinter]

I need to be more careful about what I read... this site has effectively moved my goalposts of interest from Prestige to Caparison to Tom Anderson to who knows what else.

GAS is weird. Friend of mine is selling a Travis Bean to move back to a standard Gibson. So apparently there is a leveling-out point somewhere

 

[Xiphos68]

I've played a few Caparison's myself and while they are similar to Jackson's.

I would say they still are very different. They very much have a rounder D-Shape neck profile.

Although, the Michael Romeo (Symphony X) model which I owned briefly is a bit different. It's very much based off a Kramer Neck that he had when he was younger.
It was a very cool guitar and honestly played very well. I didn't keep it because I didn't realize I was setting it up wrong because it was one of the Prominence Dillenger's and apparently you have to set the Floyd rose backwards so it's curved with body.

The original Michael Romeo's weren't like that. They were flat tops.
I wish I had known that and I probably would have kept it. I've dealt with some hand issues over the years so I understand.
It also had giant frets (Dunlop 6000), slightly bigger than the standard 6100s. Either way, that guitar still ripped.

As others have said, they are a bit high. But if you can find a way to try one out, go for it. They are fun guitars!

I personally, like the more narrow necks and string spacing. That's a huge plus for me.
I would say the Caparison neck's have less shoulder compared to a Jackson on the neck.

 

[Delmonte Du]

Well, figured it was finally time to come out of the hole after a few weeks of silence and come clean lol. So I guess unfortunately I took the schmucks approach and pulled the trigger on this new one from Sweetwater , and after spending quite a lot of time with it have to admit this is quite a special guitar. One of the nicest constructed super strat type guitars I’ve gotten my hands on (especially for the price). The neck has this strange but cool hybrid feel that reminds me of my black Gibson custom LP with a little Jackson/esp dna mixed in (good for both bluesy chords and metal lead playing, which is what I wanted, if that was something that was even possible). Finish is second to none, and the quality fit on the neck pocket is almost too good lol (right on the nuggets airtight with no imperfections from what I can see ). If I have one complaint (maybe not so much a complaint but a preference) and something I noticed brought up by other posters, is the pickups are a little darker than I’m used to. Will admit I’ve tapped into the bridge pickup after some time and gotten a lot out of it, though the hot rails type pickup in the neck I’m still trying to work with (could be a little more livelier and less muddy, even for a neck pickup). Overall though it’s a hell of a cool guitar, and one that at this point looks like I’m going to keep.

 

[budda]

Keeping things

 

[siloshredder]

The PH-Rs are fantastic.

They are very unique sounding, that's for sure.

 

[Delmonte Du]

Wasn’t sure if I should post here or in the luthier section, but since I have all of your attentions here figured I’d post about an issue I’m hoping to get resolved. So after about three weeks of ownership I noticed the trem arm coupler began to loosen up and wiggle to the point where the Allen screw won’t stay tightened down for more than 10 minutes at a time (have had to keep the back plate off). I contacted the SW service center who after communication with Caparison said I need a coupling kit that looks like the one in the picture on the left below (should preface he initially made it sound like this is what I should already have and to just tighten the back down , though I emphasized that’s a completely different assembly to what’s in mine). He confirmed that the assembly diagram he got from Caparison is correct to fix the problem, and that they would locate and send me the necessary part(s). I obviously emphasized am pretty f$&king irritated, considering the price on these , though since I love everything else about the guitar, wanted to at least attempt to get it right. So he located the part I needed and promptly sent it out. When I received it, I noticed it’s a Floyd rose based coupling kit for the cheaper 1000 series (not Schaller, though I know they’re supposedly all made by the same company). After researching online, it looks like this part only exists in this form and labeled for the 1000 series (nothing comparable for any Schaller or Original Floyd rose models), though not sure if he was trying to emphasize it should be interchangeable (been struggling to track both the SW rep and someone at Caparison down since I received the part ). Has anyone else had similar issues with the Schaller? Is the part they sent correct, etc.? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance lol.

 

[Kagami]

For the arm holder it won't matter really it's just a crappy part to begin. One of my friends hates the regular style because they always get loose so he replaced them with the pop-in style holders. I never use mine I just prefer the tuning stability of the locking bridge so I never would notice lol.

 

[jco5055]

Yeah I actually pre-emptively bought a red bishop arm which is much better, any screw on Floyd design is bad imo and that’s not Caparison’s fault , it’s Floyd’s/schallers

 

[Mtz]

Wasn’t sure if I should post here or in the luthier section, but since I have all of your attentions here figured I’d post about an issue I’m hoping to get resolved. So after about three weeks of ownership I noticed the trem arm coupler began to loosen up and wiggle to the point where the Allen screw won’t stay tightened down for more than 10 minutes at a time (have had to keep the back plate off). I contacted the SW service center who after communication with Caparison said I need a coupling kit that looks like the one in the picture on the left below (should preface he initially made it sound like this is what I should already have and to just tighten the back down , though I emphasized that’s a completely different assembly to what’s in mine). He confirmed that the assembly diagram he got from Caparison is correct to fix the problem, and that they would locate and send me the necessary part(s). I obviously emphasized am pretty f$&king irritated, considering the price on these , though since I love everything else about the guitar, wanted to at least attempt to get it right. So he located the part I needed and promptly sent it out. When I received it, I noticed it’s a Floyd rose based coupling kit for the cheaper 1000 series (not Schaller, though I know they’re supposedly all made by the same company). After researching online, it looks like this part only exists in this form and labeled for the 1000 series (nothing comparable for any Schaller or Original Floyd rose models), though not sure if he was trying to emphasize it should be interchangeable (been struggling to track both the SW rep and someone at Caparison down since I received the part ). Has anyone else had similar issues with the Schaller? Is the part they sent correct, etc.? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance lol.

As others have said, get a Floyd Rose push-in arm, I change it out on all my guitars, the original screw-down arm are just junk in my opinion.

Tremolo Arm Push-In Style

No more screwing around! This snug-fit arm and collar ensures total ease while spinning, diving, and removing from the bridge. Fits all authentic Floyd Rose tremolo systems including the Original, Special, 1000 Series, Non-Fine Tuner, and Pro, as well as a direct replacement for the 1500...

www.floydrose.com

 

[trem licking]

Put some loctite on the screw of your current coupler and let it sit a day to harden up (dont use max grade loctite... Use the mid or low strength so you can get it back or later if need be) and it will no longer loosen. The floyd branded push in arm is horrible in my opinion. Either keep what you have, and if the arm collar loosens get a plastic bushing mighty might floyd arm or replace the whole thing with a red bishop and you eill have no more problems